Abstract
Many carotenoid pigments are present in a small quantity in nature or low yielding from their natural sources, despite these vivid colorations. Thus, the synthesis of useful carotenoids with metabolic pathway-engineered microorganisms should offer an alternative and promising approach for their efficient production. Here, we describe a novel method for an efficient production of such carotenoids, using E. coli cells that carry heterologous mevalonate pathway-based genes. This method also enables relevant researchers to efficiently identify the function of an isolated carotenogenic gene candidate. For example, the recombinant E. coli cells, which harbor a lycopene-producing plasmid, can synthesize 12.5 mg/g dry cell weight of lycopene with the addition of lithium acetoacetate to the medium. This level corresponded to an 11.8-fold increase of that of E. coli cells carrying only the lycopene-producing plasmid.
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Acknowledgments
This work has been supported as a part of the Research and Development Program for New Bio-Industry Initiatives (2006–2010) of Bio-Oriented Technology Research Advancement Institution (BRAIN).
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Harada, H., Misawa, N. (2012). Novel Approach in the Biosynthesis of Functional Carotenoids in Escherichia coli . In: Barredo, JL. (eds) Microbial Carotenoids from Bacteria and Microalgae. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 892. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-879-5_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-879-5_6
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